APS Names Remaining Principals as Part of Reassignments

Process started in April for head principals is complete

Albuquerque Public Schools has named principals at three middle schools, assigning new leaders at two of them and removing “interim” from the title of the third. It completes the process started in late April, when changes were announced at 28 schools.

Rick Braden was named principal at Jimmy Carter Middle School, effective July 1, while David Lynch is the new principal at Garfield Mid-School and Steve Scully has been given the permanent job at Taft.

“It’s critical that principals are well matched with their schools and communities,” APS Superintendent Winston Brooks said. “The energy created by a new partnership can have a tremendous effect on the way learning happens in a school.”

Braden spent most of this school year as principal of Chelwood Elementary. He also has been assistant principal at Chamiza, Tomasita and Oñate elementaries since joining APS three years ago. He has taught and been administrator in other New Mexico districts in Crownpoint, Dulce, Kirtland and Aztec. Braden succeeds Rita Martinez, who will be an assistant principal at McKinley Middle School next year.

Lynch spent a little more than two years as assistant principal at McKinley, following a nearly two-year stint in the same position at LBJ Middle School. He came to APS from New Jersey in 2004 to teach at Desert Ridge Mid-School. Lynch succeeds Ruben Perez, who will take a position as an assistant principal at Cibola High School.

Scully served as interim principal at Taft this year, and was the assistant principal there for a year before that. He also spent five years as assistant principal at Madison Middle School and has worked at the district level. Scully also has been a teacher and administrator in districts in Texas and Indiana.

Other APS principals also have been reassigned. Linda Torres will be an assistant principal at Sandia High School after a year as principal at Rio Grande High. Vivia Sparkler will oversee both Freedom and Sierra alternative high schools, as they will eventually merge. Former Sierra principal Andrea Felts will be an assistant principal at La Cueva High.